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Introduction to Legal Ethics and Social Media: Advertising, Communicating With Clients, and Investigative Use

Understanding the Model Rules of Professional Conduct as They Relate to Digital Communications; Avoiding Pitfalls

Recording of a 60-minute CLE video webinar


Conducted on Thursday, June 6, 2024

Recorded event now available

or call 1-800-926-7926

This CLE webinar will discuss the critical issues relating to the use of social media and legal ethics. The speaker will explore the ABA Model Rules that generally relate to the use of social media and provide tips for how to use these tools and platforms effectively in your practice and avoid misuse or ethics violations.

Description

Lawyers and law firms are increasingly using social media to market their legal services, stay connected to clients, investigate cases, and research jurors. While social media is a useful tool, lawyers must understand the benefits, risks and ethical implications associated with its use as part of their ongoing duty of technological competence.

The current ABA Rules of Professional Conduct do not specifically address social media. However, the rules, ethics opinions, and cases regarding lawyer communications, lawyer competence, lawyer advertising, and client confidentiality provide important guidance. Lawyers that fail to keep up to date on the rules and maintain compliance risk the potential for discipline. Thus, lawyers must understand the implications of using social media both personally and professionally to avoid missteps.

Listen as our authoritative speaker discusses the ethical considerations surrounding the use of social media and explains how attorneys can effectively use social media as a tool in their practice while also maintaining compliance with ethics rules.

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Outline

  1. Overview: ways lawyers are using social media
  2. Familiarity with social media is part of legal competence
  3. Advertising legal services
  4. Furnishing legal advice through social media
  5. Communicating with clients and others
  6. Preservation and spoliation of digital evidence
  7. Researching jurors on social media
  8. Supervision of non-lawyers employed or retained by a lawyer or law firm
  9. Other issues and key takeaways

Benefits

The panel will discuss these and other key issues:

  • What are the key ethical concerns relating to a lawyer’s use of social media?
  • What rules of professional conduct govern a lawyer’s use of social media in their practice?
  • How is familiarity with social media relevant to a lawyer’s legal competence?
  • How can lawyers use social media effectively in their practice and remain compliant with ethical rules?

Faculty

Gerzhoy, Hilary
Hilary P. Gerzhoy

Partner
HWG

Ms. Gerzhoy is Vice Chair of the firm’s Legal Ethics and Malpractice Group. She is also the Vice Chair of the...  |  Read More

Access Anytime, Anywhere

Strafford will process CLE credit for one person on each recording. All formats include course handouts.

To find out which recorded format will provide the best CLE option, select your state:

CLE On-Demand Video